Circular loom



y 4, 1957 M. THIBAUT ETAL 2,792,027

CIRCULAR LOOM 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. '7, 1954 INVENTORS MOISE TH I BAUT ANDRE BERQUIER ATTORNEY y 1957 M. THIBAUT ETAL 2,792,027

" CIRCULAR LOOM FilOd Sept. 7, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Til? 11. 2O

INVENTORS MOISE THIBAUT ANDRE BERQUIER ATTORNEY 14, 1957 M. THIBA UT ET AL 2,792,027

CIRCULAR LOOM 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 7. 1954 INVENTOR. MOI-7E TH/BH u r HJVDRE 557? 0/57? HTTOR NE) 1957 M. THIBAUT ET AL 2,792,027

CIRCULAR LOOM Filed Sept. '7, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 v v Him 9 J6 21 INVEN TORS NOISE Til/EH04 r HNORE EERQU/[R X LKWL RTTORNEY United States Patent CIRCULAR LOOM Moise Thibaut, Argenteuil, and Andre Berquier, Le Pre Saint Gervais, France, assignors to Societe dApplications Generales dElectricite & de Mecanique, Paris, France Application September 7, 1954, Serial No. 454,328

Claims. (Cl. 139-371) This invention relates to looms, and more particularly to a weft fault detecting device for a circular loom.

In most of the customary circular looms, the warp yarns are not separated and guided within the space between the shafts and the fabric, as is the case in straight looms by the alternating movement of the reed carried by the slay.

A foreign object, such as a flock of wool, straw, bits and ends of broken thread, knots, mechanical parts, etc., which may be present in the shed, will cause a stopping of the crossing of the warp yarns at a certain distance from the bottom of the shed, whereby an enclosure is formed. These enclosures, in turn impede the proper depositing of the weft yarn, so that the latter enters a space outside the place it should normally occupy.

The members provided to beat up the weft are not, generally speaking, efiicient enough to bring the weft yarn thus improperly inserted back into place. There consequently remains an area free from weft yarn, usually in the shape of a triangle the apex of which is held by such an enclosure, an area which is followed by a very tightly beat up zone, due to the accumulation of the following weft threads.

An object of this invention is to provide a weft fault detecting device, by means of which such defects in the laying of weft yarn may be eliminated automatically or otherwise.

Another object of the invention is to improve onthe construction of circular looms as now ordinarily made.

Other objects and structural details of the invention will be apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic top plan view of a weft fault detecting device according to the invention arranged on a shuttle,

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a shuttle and the reed, said figure illustrating the electrical connections of the shuttle and the reed,

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view, taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, illustrating the position of the feeler of the weft fault detecting device according to the invention at the bottom of the shed,

Fig. 4 is a top plan view illustrating the feeler of the weft fault detecting device in its operative position upon its contact with an improperly inserted weft yarn, and

Figs. 5 and 6 are wiring diagrams of two different circuits for the control of certain mechanisms.

Referring now to Fig. l, the shuttle 1 bears upon its front section an arm or antenna 2, the rear end of which is bent along a line concentric to the circumference of the weaving-tube 3. The rear end of said arm 2 carries a feeler 4, which pivots around an axis 5. A spring 6 tends to urge said feeler 4 into engagement with the last weft yarn deposited.

The feeler 4 is provided with a nose-like contact element 7 capable of closing an electric circuit constituted in the following manner:

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On the one hand, the body of the feeler 4 is electrically connected with the mass of the shuttle, which, in turn, is electrically connected wth the mass of the loom by contact brushes 8 (see Fig. 2). Said contact brushes 8 pass through the spaces between the warp yarns 20 for engagement with the shuttle 1.

On the other hand, a contact element 9 mounted on the arm 2 is insulated from the latter by a support 10 made of insulating material. This contact element 9 is electrically connected with the reed 11 by a wire 21 and a flexible member 12 carried by and insulated from the shuttle 1 (see Figs. 1 and 2). The reed 11 is insulated from the mass of the loom.

Furthermore, as illustrated by Fig. 2, the mass of the loom (connected with the contact brushes 8) is electrically connected with one terminal of a battery 22 or other electric source of low tension by a line, while the reed 11 is electrically connected with the other terminal of the battery 22 by a line 24 including a relay 13.

In order to protect the feeler 4 from the warp yarns, thus assuring a high degree of functional efficiency, the rear end of the arm 2 is in the shape of a U, as best shown in Fig. 3. The feeler 4 swingably mounted on the pin 5 and the spring 6 are placed betwen the legs of said U-shaped portion of the arm 2.

The operation of the weft fault detecting device is as follows:

When the feeler 4 encounters a defect due to the improper insertion of a weft yarn at the bottom of the shed, the improperly inserted weft yarn causes a swinging of the feeler 4 about the pivot 5, so that the feeler 4 reaches the position shown in Fig. 4, wherein the contact elements 7 and 9 are in engagement with each other for closing the circuit containing the relay 13.

In the event that upon an actuation of the weft fault detecting device the loom shall be stopped, the relay is designed in such a way that it may close the following three circuits:

(a) A first circuit which causes the automatic leveling of the shafts by exciting the electromagnets of a system which, for example, may be of the type described in the copending U. S. patent application Serial No. 394,612 filed by Raymond Jacob et al. on November 27, 1953, for A Loom.

(b) A second circuit which causes the stopping of the drawing-off of the fabric by means of an electromagnet I D acting on a claw coupling.

(c) A third circuit which stops the motor by actuation of a circuit breaker.

As in this event the same results must be obtained by an actuation of the feeler 4 of the Weft fault detecting device as they are required from a customary weft-stopmotion, it will suffice, in case the loom is provided with such a customary weft-stop-motion, to connect the circuit of the weft fault detecting device according to the invention in parallel with that of such a customary weftstop-motion.

A suitable circuit for this kind of operation is illustrated by Fig. 5. As mentioned above, when the feeler 4 encounters a defect, the circuit including the relay 13 is closed by the contact 9, so that the relay 13 is excited.

- Thus, the relay 13 causes the following operations: The

relay 13 closes the contact 31 whereby a holding circuit including said relay 13 is closed and the excitation of the latter continues after the opening of the contact 9 actuated by the moving feeler 4, until, later on, the loom is manually restarted by the operator. Furthermore, the relay shown) are excited. Said electromagnets 15 actuate the hooks 16 which, in turn, assure the leveling of the shafts. Finally the relay 13 causes a closing of the contact 23 whereby the electromagnet 17 is excited. Said electromagnet 17 assures the disengagement of the mechanism for drawingoif the fabric by a disengagement of the movable clutch element 18 of the claw coupling 19 from the other clutch element thereof. Thus, the drawingoif mechanism being disconnected from its driving mechanism does not operate during the period of running at low speed of the loom, i. e. the period during which the loom rotates without deposing weft threads.

In the event that upon an actuation of the weft fault detecting device the rotation of the loom shall continue, one of the poles of the circuit of the weft fault detecting device is independent from the circuit which might exist for the customary weft-stop-motion. Then, the relay 13 is especially and solely dependent upon the action of the feeler 4 and closes the following two circuits:

(1) A first circuit which causes the automatic leveling of the shafts.

(2) A second circuit which causes the stoppage of the drawing-off of the fabric.

Preferably, in such a case, the relay 13 is designed in such a manner that it acts only during a certain period, which may be adjustable, whereupon the two circuits (1) and (2) mentioned in the preceding paragraphs are again automatically opened and the loom starts again to perform its normal weaving operation.

The above mentioned action of the relay 13 for a predetermined period may be obtained by various means. For example, it would be possible to utilize the electric delay of a relay by a condenser with an adjustable potentiometer or a clock-system.

A suitable circuit for this kind of operation is illustrated by Fig. 6. When the feeler 4 (see Figs. 1, 3, 4) encounters a defect, it causes an excitation of a time relay 34 (see Fig. 6). Said time relay 34, in turn, causes an excitation'for a predetermined time of the relay 26 which detects closings of the circuit by the contact 9 (Figs. 1, 3, 4) controlled by the feeler 4. Said excitation is constant during the action of the contact 25 by the time relay 34. The time may be adjusted, for example between 2 and seconds, so that there is sutficient time to assure'the necessary number of passages for an automatic elimination of the irregularities.

The detecting relay 26 assures the following operations: The relay 26 causes a closing of the contact 27 whereby the electromagnets 15 (only one being shown) are excited for causing a leveling of the shafts. The leveling of the shafts limits the influence of the irregularity and permits the elimination thereof by the mechanism for tightening the weft threads. Furthermore, the relay 26 causes a closing of the circuit including the electromagnet 17 by means of the contact 28, whereby a disengagement of the drawing-off mechanism is obtained.

When, after a predetermined time, the time relay 34 causes an opening of the contact 25 interrupting an excitation of the relay 26, the shafts take up again their movements in synchronism with the deposing of the weft threads, after the circuit including the electromagnets 15 has been opened and the drawing-off mechanism is again operative by the opening of the circuit including the electromagnet 17.

As will be readily understood from above, the weft fault detecting device according to the invention comprises a feeler 4 which detects the presence of any foreign object at the bottom of the shed or any abnormal position of the last weft yarn deposited.

The feeler 4 is electrically connected with a relay 13 which, in turn, cooperates with an electrical device for an automatic leveling of the shafts (high or low leveling) and for an automatic stopping of the drawing-off of -the fabric. Such a leveling of the shafts causes automatically a stopping of the weaving and, thus, avoids the defective depositing of fresh weft yarns. Furthermore the relay 13 is designed in such a way that it causes the following actions simultaneously with the leveling of the shafts:

(A) The loom is stopped. In such a case, the operator must restart the loom for a continuation of its normal weaving operation, or

(B) The main drive of the loom is not stopped and the permutation of the shafts and the drawing-off of the fabric are automatically resumed after a predetermined number of revolutions of the main drive of the loom. In such a case, the weft yarns left out of the faric, either on the outside (in the case of low leveling) or on the inside, are cut by a device'provided for this purpose.

Then, the successive movements of the members for beating up the weft, either induced by the operator during the restarting of the loom or caused automatically after a predetermined number of revolutions of the non stopped main drive of the loom, enable an easy removal of the enclosures (foreign objects enclosed in the shed at the bottom thereof) as, then, all of the warp yarns are placed in a single sheet.

We have described a preferred embodiment of our invention, but it is understood that this disclosure is for the purpose of illustration and that various omissions or changes in shape, proportion and arrangements of parts, as well as the substitution of equivalent elements for those, herein shown and described may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

For example, feeler operating in an entirely ditferent manner may be used, provided, of course, that they are placed in a way permitting a very thorough exploration of the bottom of the shed as described above in connection with the feeler 4 of the detector. The arrangement of the feeler 4 on the arm 2 of the shuttle 1 in the weft yarn depositing zone, where the rear end of said arm 2 is as concentric as possible to the weaving-ring 3, is an important feature of the invention. The feeler is automatically placed in a position convenient for every change in the width of the fabric when the usual adjustment of the arm or antenna 2 is made. Furthermore, the arrangement of the feeler 4 on the rear end of the arm 2 and, thus, rearwardly of the front end of the shuttle 1, avoids an undesired actuation of the feeler by large irregularities in the warp yarns or by unimportant delays at the crossing of some warp yarns as it would be the case if the feeler would be mounted in front of the shuttle, for instance, on the inclined part of the arm or antenna, or if the antenna itself would be given the role of a feeler.

The feeler 4 descrlibed above is under the action of a spring 6 and acts by closing a circuit within the shuttle. The feeler, however, could also be in the shape of a resilient element, such as a leaf-spring rod or the like. Furthermore, means other than a spring could be provided for returning the feeler into its inactive position: for example, the feeler could be returned into its inactive position by the action of the centrifugal force during operation of the loom, or by means of a permanent magnet.

Moreover, the feeler could act by opening a circuit within the shuttle rather than by closing a circuit as described above.

Furthermore, the feeler could act by the displacement of a mechanical element on the shuttle, a displacement which would be detected across the warp yarns. In such a case it would not be necessary to connect the shuttles to the two terminals of a source of electric current.

What we claim is:

1. A circular loom comprising: a weaving ring, a member rotatable around said weaving ring, a feeler mounted on said member, said feeler being arranged for extending into the shed of warpayarns at the bottom thereof and being capable of engagement with improperly deposited weft yarn, said feeler being normally in an inactive position and being at least partially displaceable into an active position upon engagement with improperly deposited weft yarn, and controlling means for controlling the operation of the loom, said controlling means being actuatable by said feeler When the latter is in its active position.

2. In a circular loom as claimed in claim 1, said member including a shuttle and an arm secured to said shuttle, said feeler being mounted on said arm at a point rearwardly of the front end of said shuttle.

3. In a circular loom as claimed in claim 2, said arm being secured to the front end of said shuttle and extending rearwardly, said feeler being mounted on the rear end portion of said arm, and said rear end portion of the arm being substantially concentric to the circumference of the weaving ring.

4. In a circular loom as claimed in claim 1, said feeler being made of resilient material and a portion thereof being bendable from the inactive position into the active position.

5. in a circular loom as claimed in claim 1, said feeler being rotatably mounted on said member and being swingable from the inactive position into the active position, and means cooperating with said feeler for urging same into its inactive position.

6. In a circular loom as claimed in claim 1, said feeler being rotatably mounted on said member and being swingable from the inactive position into the active position, and resilient means cooperating with said feeler for urging same into its inactive position.

'2. in a circular loom as claimed in claim 1, said controlling means including an electrical device, and said feeler being electrically connected with said electrical device for causing an actuation thereof when the feeler is in its active position.

8. in a circular loom as claimed in claim 1, said controlling means including a relay, a switch in circuit with said relay, and said feeler being associated with said switch for actuating same for an actuation of said relay when the feeler is in its active position.

9. in a circular loom as claimed in claim 1, said controiling means, upon actuation thereof, causing an automatic stopping of the weaving operations, of the drawing-off of the fabric and of the rotation of the loom.

10. In a circular loom as claimed in claim 1, said controlling means, upon actuation thereof, causing a stopping of the weaving operations and of the drawing-01f of the fabric for a predetermined period of time.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,433,479 Pelce Dec. 30, 1947 

